10 years of blogging

This week is my 10th blogversary. I can’t believe it, 10 years! And yet, on April 27, 2007 I posted my first blog post and this skirt was the first project I blogged about:

Now I would say that these are not  my colours, but I loved that skirt and have worn it often.

So many things happen in 10 years, both in sewing and in personal life. I never said much about my personal life on my blog, but as in any life there were ups and downs. Moving house last year certainly feels like a positive change and both DH and I are happy with the place we live now. Our children grew up and from teenagers became young adults that study, work, travel and see more of the world than I did at their age. I’m a proud mother .

I thought it would be nice to make a selection of garments I made in those 10 years but that’s not working. Quite a few photos on the blog have been lost, probably because of Picasa stopped being available. What’s left really is a trip down memory lane for me (garments I didn’t like that much after all, garments that I loved and wore till they fell apart, garments that have special memories), but hey, why should I bother you with that. If you want to, you can still see the old posts, I’ve not removed anything.

If you’ve followed me that long (and I know some of you do, thank you!!) you’ll know I wrote a lot about lingerie sewing in the beginning. That was new, no one was writing about it then. My sewing evolved and I took on more difficult projects, started to draft some of my garments and wrote about that process too.

Apart from the writing itself, starting this blog about sewing 10 years ago and posting reviews on Pattern Review opened a new world for me. Till then sewing was a solitary hobby for me. None of my friends sewed. Through blogging I found new friends who sew and don’t find it strange if I send them a picture of fabric and/or pattern with the question whether it matches, or asking for advice on something sewing related. Some I meet in real life, with others I discuss sewing through e-mails. Some friends I now see regularly and with quite a few we have the annual sewing get-together in Canterbury. Can’t imagine my life without those real-life or distant friends any more. I’m very grateful to have met you all.

The blogging world has changed over the years. I won’t go into that much, others have done that more eloquently than I can. My blogging and sewing has changed too, not with more frequent, sponsored posts, but less posts in more infrequent intervals. Sometimes I can write 3 posts in a week, then disappear again for a few weeks. It’s what it is, there are only 24 hours in a day and so much I want to do. There certainly is also a lot sewing related that I want to do and I will continue writing my irregular posts about it.

Thank you for reading my blog, cheering me by your comments. It’s lovely to be part of the international sewing community. As it’s been a long time I’ve done this, I do a give-away to celebrate my blogversary. I’ll give away a copy of the May issue of Knip mode or BurdaStyle (Dutch editions). Leave a comment on this post, indicating whether you’d like the Knip mode or BurdaStyle. I’ll do a draw next Saturday, April 29). I’ll send it anywhere in the world (it’s just one magazine, but you may choose which one you want).

Knip mode line drawings

BurdaStyle overview

To conclude: StyleArc Evie top, almost finished. It has a high hem in front, lower in the back. Great style for working in my allotment garden. Certainly a nice style for wearing in general too.